Apple Cider

We have several apple trees and usually end up giving most of them away.  There are only so many apples two people can eat!    This year we bought an apple press and decided to make cider.  We had the grand kids over, the weather was perfect and boy was it fun!

First up - picking....  

....and carrying them back to Papa in the garage.

Even their dog, Rusty, got in on it....though he was more about fetching and eating!  :)

Back in the garage grinding and pressing.  We ended up with 8 gallons.  Hubs and I pressed another 4 gallons on a different day.

Sent several gallons home with the kids.   Reduced a half gallon down to 1/2 cup and made apple cider caramels with it - soooooo good!  And the rest went in the freezer. 

Oh and a week ago a mama black bear and two cubs came and ate all the apples that had fallen on the ground!  Got to actually watch them do it...such a treat.

Quilt Retreat in Leavenworth

This was the 12th year that Tink and I have gone to Leavenworth on a quilt retreat with friends from our online guild, WASIQ.    It is such a treat to spend 4 days quilting and having fun.   Leavenworth offers other diversions that take me out of the sewing room......shopping, of course....food....and a fabulous spa just 2 doors down where I enjoyed a 90 minute massage!

One of our favorite restaurants is South...yummy Mexican.  Actually they say its Latin.  We went three times this year!  Twice for dinner and again for happy hour.

Here we are with our server Jessie, who remembered us from last year...including where we sat!  I didn't think we were that rowdy!  LOL!

Something new we did this year was have a "Jelly Roll Race".   This link best describes the race.

Here are the gals with their quilt tops right after they finished...I labeled who came in 1st, 2nd & 3rd.  You can click on the collage to see it bigger.

Here we all are with our tops:

A better shot of mine:

I also made this quilt top at retreat:

Another great retreat over.   Can't wait for next year!

Living My Memories

My Dad's side of the family has owned a camp on Indian Lake in upstate New York for about 100 years.  It started as a hunting cabin.  Not exactly sure when it became the family residence during the summer but I know that's how it was for my Dad growing up.  I was lucky enough to get to go for a vacation most years growing up...though never for an entire summer.  I LOVED my time on the lake.  "Camp", as we have always called it, holds fond memories for me...all happy ones. 

Here is Camp as it was in 1988:

Time stood still on vacation. My brother and I played from the time we woke up to the time we were sent to bed. We played in the woods, swam, canoed, water skied, caught frogs, worked on puzzles, visited at neighboring camps, cards & board games, read in the hammock, fed the chipmunks....so simple but unforgettable.

Me with our dog Charlie out for a canoe ride:

Me water skiing for the first time at age 11....still "got it" many years later as an adult:

My last visit to Camp as a child was at age 14.  My parents divorced and we never went again.  That is until I was married with kids of my own.  1988 was when we had a small family reunion at Camp with my Dad, Edie and my brothers family.   I was thrilled to introduce my kids to what was my favorite place on earth.

Here they enjoy canoeing (same canoe) with their grandparents:

We were able to take them back to Camp two more times after that trip.   Flying across the country was much harder to accomplish than a drive.   Who knows if my grand kids will ever get to go.  I hope so.

For now, hubby and I rent a house on Lake Cavanaugh here in WA and invite our family to come spend time at the lake.  The area is different, the "cabin" is a huge modern home, the lake is more crowded....but the lake is still a lake.  Our grand kids might not get to experience canoe riding on the same lake as their ancestors have but they CAN experience it.   And I get to live my memories all over again.  

A few pics from this years lake visit.

Jenn, Faith and David learning the fine art of summer relaxation:

David and Liam playing with dominoes:

Puzzles...gotta complete a puzzle:

Thank you Lord, for happy memories past, present and future.   :)

Hiking and Circles

I am participating in a photo blog with my Yaya's....the one with weekly themes...I think I've mentioned it before.   Anyway, this week our theme is "Circle".   Hubby and I went for a nice long hike today to enjoy the sunshine.   I decided it would be fun to look for circles while we walked.....and it was!   

Here are a few I found:

Vacation over

This is us....day one of our vacation on Maui.   We had a wonderful time relaxing, lots of new adventures and time spent alone.  Sadly it's over and it's back to regular life.  
Since I know that you guys who read my blog are also on Facebook, I decided not to post more pics here.  You can see most of them in my Facebook album.  
Yeah for vacations!

Biking a Volcano

We are here.....on Maui.  

Today was special so I decided to do a quick blog post and share.   But to start I have to show you the view from the beach just in front of our hotel.   Isn't it gorgeous?   Yup.  Totally.

Haleakala is the volcano that dominates the island.   It's a bit over 10,000 feet.   We did one of the bike rides that goes down the volcano.   Instead of a group ride, we did it freestyle.....meaning the tour company provided us with all the gear and hauled us up, then left us to descend and return to their shop at our own pace.   The only way to do this, in my opinion!    It was so much fun.    Here we are at the start:

This is a view towards Kihea...the town we are staying in.....at the beginning of the ride.   The sky is so blue and the ocean so blue that you can hardly tell where one starts and stops.    We didn't get many pictures on the ride as we were going downhill to fast to take pics and I didn't really want to stop every two minutes to take them. 

We passed through a grove of eucalyptus trees.  Oh boy was the smell wonderful!   The trees were beautiful.

It only took us about an hour and a half to get down the volcano and back to Haiku where the shop was.  Pretty fast.  We're looking forward to going back to Haleakala to do some hiking in the crater later this week.   After returning our bikes we stopped in Paia.....hippy town as one sign said.   LOL!   Had a wonderful lunch and did some shopping. 

Once back to our hotel we did what we've been doing every evening.  Suits on....relax on the beach, watch the humpback whales in the distance and wait for the sun to set.  

Aloha!

River Search

Remember I told you about the Yaya's weekly themed photo challenge for this year?   Well, this weeks theme was "Book I'm Reading".
The book I'm reading is called "Yukon Lady: A Tale of Loyalty and Courage".   True story about a gal named Emma who moved to the Yukon in the early 1900's as a new bride.   There were lots of things I could have chosen as my picture(s) for the week:  cribbage, Husky dogs, sourdough, glaciers, etc.    They lived on the Stewart River and the river was central to life for them.  That's why I chose "river" as my pic for the week.

Getting a river picture meant a field trip for hubby and I.  So this morning we took off across the Hood Canal bridge in search of the Quilcene River.   We parked at Rainbow campground and hiked a short distance down to the river.

Dennis and Bonnie on the way down the trail.

Some mushrooms we saw.  Love how plentiful fungi are here in the NW.  For some reason they have always interested me.

And here she is, the mighty Quilcene River.

Dennis dinking at the rivers edge.

Me on the way back UP the trail...lots of stops to catch my breath.

We finished our little adventure with lunch at the Timber House in Quilcene.  Yummy, yummy food.  I highly recommend this place if you're in the area.

A Walk About Town

We have been having fabulous fall weather here in the Pacific Northwest. And since we all know the rains aren't far behind, we are taking advantage of this sunshine. Today after church hubby and I took a walk around town. It was perfect walking weather.....which for me means no sweating. :)

We were up on the hill as the ferry was pulling in.

Even though we have walked through town many many times, we discovered a short public trail that cut across many backyards. Better than the road.

Decided to grab lunch here. We've heard good things about this restaurant but had never stopped in. They make all kinds of burgers and yes, they were great. We'll definitely be eating here again. Though we'll need to triple the distance of our walks to burn off the burger and fries! LOL!




And I couldn't resit sharing a picture of a couple of sauces they had inside. Be sure to read all the print....you man need to click on the pic to enlarge it so you can read it all. I cracked up big time!

What does a good walk and good food equal? Napping. :)

Patting Myself on the Back

I did it.....I've blogged for a whole year! Woo hoo! Today is my blogs birthday. And I have to say it's just as fun today as it was at the beginning.

Pat, pat, pat! :)

Surprise Vacation

Nothings more fun than a vacation......except maybe planning and pulling off a surprise one! :)

Which is what I did for my hubby's birthday this year. I managed to keep him in the dark about where we were going and what we'd be doing! Woo hoo!

Our destination was Portland.....for their International Beer Festival. My man loves his brews and I knew he'd enjoy a time of sampling. They gave you these little glasses and 15 tickets. Since I hate the stuff (though, I did try some...really I did....still icky!) he got my tickets. Then you go about sampling from over a hundred different beers. I stuck with water.....and eating.....and watching thousands of people. It was like being in a very huge bar.

After a couple of days in Portland we took off for the Oregon coast. Dennis hadn't been there since he was 10 and I never had. We stopped at Fort Clatsop for a little history. Then Seaside for time in the sun. I can't believe how few people were on the beach.


This was our B&B for our coast time. The Arch Cape Inn. Our room was at the top of that round tower. This is a beautiful place...with wonderful service....and incredible gourmet food. We weren't on the beach but we could see it from our room and it was just a 3 minute walk.

Cannon Beach icon. Another nice day for shopping and beach walking.
There were lots of birds nesting on the rocks...even Puffins (which we didn't see).



Hiking in Ecola State Park. Loved this place. I could have stayed here all day.

We headed to Tillamook for the day. Had to tour the factory, of course. Then spent time in Oceanside and went to the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

The Oregon Coast is on our list of places to revisit.....even Portland. We had a great time and were sorry to see it end. Hummmm......wonder where I want to plan a surprise for next?

Impulse Buying

This was today's impulse buy at Costco! I've actually wanted a Wii for a few months now. What I really want is the Wii Fitness....particularly so I can try the yoga part. But you can't use the Fitness without the regular console. And since it's a costly toy....its the console first and later the Fitness part. At Costco the console is bundled with Sports. Hubby and I had fun bowling (I kicked his you know what!) and playing tennis (which we both sucked at). Then I worked in the training mode at tennis and boxing....worked up a sweat. Then we tried the "fitness" part of Sports....they test you in three sports to see your Wii age. I was 68, hubby was 54! Ha, ha, ha. Guess what I'll be working on? Can't let him win! ;)

Cruising

We are back from our first cruise. I -- we -- loved it! It's definitely something we would do again.

Here we are on board as we are leaving Seattle....already getting our first taste of free food and relaxation! It was a gorgeous day in the Northwest....but it would be the last of clear blue skies until we returned.

The porthole view from our room:

Glaciers were the theme to our sight seeing. We visited 3 of them. First (on the left) was Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. It rained like crazy that day but it was still beautiful. Second (middle) was Davidson Glacier on our day in Skagway.....via a great excursion that I'll tell ya about in a minute. Last (right) was Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park. This glacier is humongous! The picture just doesn't do it justice. It makes the other two look itty-bitty. I think they said it is 250 feet high with another 100 feet under water. We got to see lots of pieces break off and fall...including that big "tower" on the top right (if you click to enlarge). Spectacular!


This is us in all our gear on the excursion to Davidson Glacier. We left Skagway via a catamaran....rode about 45 minutes to Glacier Point. Then it was a bus ride through the woods to camp where we suited up in rain gear. Then a hike through the woods to a river where we got in canoes. Then we canoed to the lake to see the Glacier. It never did rain but it was a good thing we were in gear cuz we were in the front of the boat and it was windy....waves, wind.....yeah....we got wet! The tour guides really made this a great day!

We had our best weather the day we were in Glacier Bay. This was the most blue sky we saw. The water was like glass, though, so I was able to get some gorgeous reflection shots.

And, what quilter doesn't look for and shop at quilt stores where ever she is!!! Skagway had a shop, but this one is Silver Thimbles in Ketchikan. I helped keep the quilt store economy in good shape! LOL!

And the best part about cruising?

Relaxation (lots of reading & napping), way too much food and nummy cocktails any time of day!

Love, love, loved it!